Jenny (jsnowash)'s Spring Guinea Pig Group - CLOSED (Page 15)

Hey g-pigs,

Bill and Jeff - hope your various wounds heal fast!

Mitch - good that you caught the shin splints early.  Maybe that is the key (and I'll keep that in mind if mine ever reappear)..

Jaycee - great news on the running, especially considering that summer is here!

Jaykaykay - are you all registered?

I had a lovely bike this evening around my local 10 mile loop.  Saw a number of deer and one of the alpacas (he says hello).

One question, though - once I get off the main road I am on dirt roads.  The question relates to the road I am on for about 3 miles of the ride - it is hilly and quite twisty.  Earlier this spring, it was packed solid, and although my pace slowed a little bit when I was on this stretch, I didn't notice a huge difference in handling on the bike.  Unfortunately, someone (likely the town or county) groomed it recently, and it was really soft this evening (mixed dirt and gravel).  I found it caused me to slow down a lot and that on the downhills I felt like my bike was going to skid out from underneath me.  Any tips on biking on a soft road? I am on a hybrid commuter bike, so I have wide, solid tires (which I'm sure helps..).  Is it just a case of keeping my weight back to help with balance? (in this interest of full disclosure, I'm going to post a similar question in the Triathlon Talk subforum as well).

~ Heather

Reading this as I sit here with ice on my shins.  No pain but discomfort.  We'll see how it feels in the morning after swimming and make my tempo run a game time decision.

I'm going to take a bit of a break.  Gotta heal up.  Road Rash seriously sux.

I'll probably take the rest of this week off and then next week I'll be on vacation, so the workouts will be spotty then too.  I may pop in and out but Internet and Cell coverage is iffy at best where we will be.  I'll give Jenny a heads up before I return and let her know what's been happening, so she can revamp/reset things a little.

Bill

Jenny -

I've been doing a lot of massage as welll.  I hit both workouts this morning (swim and bike - both Garmin files linked on my training page).  Shortened the tempo run to about 6.25 but hit the main set of 3x1 mile at 10k pace (7:30) with the 1/2 mile RIs.  Little discomfort but actually feels a bit better today.  I think its just going to nag me for a while.  Definitely wasn't sure my legs were up for the run when I started but I surprised myself.  The downer was that at mile 3 it started to rain huge cold raindrops with a stiff headwind.  Then at mile 5 there was lightning. All of my runs are big loops so essentially out and backs (that way I can't cheat on distance if I get tired - I always have to get home somehow).  I call these runs character runs - as I think they help you deal with adveristy in the future.

-Mitch

I'm definitely on the same page as you regarding the running. I was doing a bit of research last night and was trying to figure out the best approach to start it. Should I focus on mileage i.e. 1 mile for recoveries, 2 miles, 3 miles? or should I focus on time? 10 min, 20 min, 30 min. Also, I know the runs should be done at a slow, recovery pace but since I don't train with a watch, what's a good indicator if i'm running too slow/fast? 

I do think the bike may have been contributing to it since my knee was not feeling better after 2 weeks of running. I've been off the bike for about 2 weeks now and the knee has been feeling much better. I noticed that on my downstroke on my right side my knee didn't seem to be tracking well so that may have been part of the issue. 

Overall, I think I'm ready to start back with some steady training. I realize I'm back at square 1 but I've revised my goals a bit for the season. I'd rather train smart and build slow rather than too hard and risk injury again. 

Good morning, all. 

Joey:  so great that you are back at the training.  I hope the bike fit answers your questions.  Sometimes, it is just a little tweak.

My morning workout was a 6 mile run.  Still "Baking the Bundt" and getting my base miles in with comfort before I do much speed work.  I have a busy weekend coming up with a houseful of company for the Bucking Horse Sale.  Our small town hosts a big "cowboy Mardi Gras" which starts today and goes through Sunday - rodeos, parades, wild horse races, pie baking contest, art quick draw, picnics, street dances - basically, lots of rowdy drunk people and some classic Americana.  It usually is a very fun time, but this year somehow my house got drafted as local hotel for family and old college buddies.  It looks like training times may be disrupted ....

Plan swim didn't go as plan after a run-in with a mean, old woman regarding 'lap lanes' and water aerobics.   600 yds-straight up was all I got

Did a bike-brick afterwards, 19 miles in 1:48.  Good, steady pace outbound, x2 tempo efforts coming back.

And i have a cold/allergies that are wrecking my sinus', but I can't take cold medicine so I'm sucking it up.  I'm skipping todays workout activities for a nap. 

Cuz' I'm old and we can do that....us old folk.  

Hey g-pigs,

Jeff - did you challenge the old lady to a pool noodle duel for the use of the lane? If not, it would be a solution to consider for next time!

I swam this evening, too.. got to swim for free, too (the trip to the pool took longer than I thought it would, and I rolled in with less than 30 minutes to go before the pool closed, so they didn't charge me ). Only downside was that I ran out of time before I could finish my planned 750m.

Hope everyone is having a great Wednesday!

~ Heather

Just did an Olympic distance bike-run brick on my indoor bike and treadmill. felt pretty good. A Knight's Tale was the feature film. Only downside was the late hour that I started...Didn't finish until just before midnight. Tomorrow at work (ie. Thursday) will be rough.

hope everyone has a good Thursday.

Jeff, have you not heard?  Water aerobics IS cross training in the pool!  You should have just joined the class and then made random conversation with the ladies.  Mighta been interesting.

One hour spinning this am.  I am at the tail end of my spinning classes for the school year.  I teach spinning at a community college gym and my enrolled students are finished and gone, but the diehard community members are coming to class until the end of May.  I am really itching to take it outside as the hour long spinning class is getting kinda dull.  I am actually thinking it will be more fun when you have to contend with traffic, road conditions, wind. - Did I really just say that wind would be fun?!

Yuck-my 'allergy' was, in fact, a cold.   (I'm thinking the evil 'pool lady' hexed me with pool-noodle black magic)

Anyhoo, I felt like crap yesterday so i didn't do anything; except drink 2 PBRs, cuz no self-respecting cold germ would DARE oppose the disinfecting powers of Pabst Blu Ribbon. 

I feel better today; my powers of wit and biting sarcasim have returned, so I'll go swim tonight.

Hey g-pigs,

Very exciting bike ride this evening.  I covered just under 8 hilly miles, pulling over (as usual) for cars to pass me.  I took a different route than normal, as I was trying to avoid the stupid soft dirt road that made me so miserable on Tuesday..

The exciting part came just before I turned around to head home - I saw three baby foxes each playing in front of a hole (likely leading to their den).  They were SO cute..

Plan also calls for a short run, so I'll do that with my dog a little later this evening (although the risk with taking her along is that the pace is less likely to be "easy", as she is MUCH faster than me).

Only one more day until the long weekend - hope it's a good one all around!

Breezy morning run for me this morning.  I ran a 5 mile loop and things felt really good.  I am definitely getting more comfortable at longer distances.  I stopped today because I ran out of time, but it was one of those runs where I felt like I could just keep running.  Kind of nice.

Jeff:  If the PBR doesn't cure what ails you, try drinking it warm.  If you are tough enough to slug a warm PBR, nothing can take you out!  I used to know an old guy that carried a couple PBR behind the seat of his pickup and could take one out and drink it in the middle of summer without so much as a grimace.  I thought he was the toughest hombre alive!

My only theory is that my form sans pull bouy is 'better' than my form avec pull bouy. Perhaps I'm using less energy with pull bouy, but I can't figure out the time thing.

Hey GPs,

PBR seems to be doing the trick for my cold, although I will finish the entire 6-pack just to make sure.

Plan Swim-400 wu, 6 x 100 broken into 4 x 25 yd segments  (1st-3rd=fast, 2nd-4th=easy), 100 breast stroke, 100 cd.  

Got big plans for runs/rides this weekens, but we'll see.

Happy Monday to all.  Based on the amount of traffic on our message board, it would seem that most folks had a relaxing weekend.

@Jeff - how did your self medicating PBR treat you?   

As for me, I took Saturday off as a rest day.  It wasn't planned per se, but just the way things fell, I didn't have a chance to get any training done.  That said, I did some abs and back exercises while my daughter and I were hanging out and watching some TV, but that's it.  

Sunday morning training was fantastic!  I went out for a bike ride - my first outdoor ride of the season.  The hours on my indoor bike proved to be a great base.  I did 35 miles on some decent rolling hills, so my legs got a really good workout.  Beautiful weather, sunny, a bit cool and nobody on the roads (well, it was 5:30am on Sunday, so that's to be expected). I could have gone farther, but wanted to get back before my family woke up.  

In terms of the wildlife report (other than the usual squirrels)....I saw deer, a fox and wild turkeys(!)..  The turkeys were crossing the street as if they didn't have a care in the world.  They were probably thinking, what the heck is this guy doing on a bicycle at this hour?  

Oh well, that's my weekend report.  Today...not sure.  It's raining here in NY, so I'll probably go for a run on my treadmill or a swim in the pool, or maybe both.  We'll see.

Sounds like you had a good ride!

This weekend was a lot of 'getting back into the saddle' for me. Did a 50 min easy bike ride on Sunday morning. My legs need a lot of strength training to get them back into shape but my knee felt good.

Did a 30 min endurance speed this morning. I've been testing out my uncle's 910 so i can teach him how to use it and though the watch couldn't get to short enough of a distance of the pool (i think the pool was only 20 yards) the data tells me that my pace was pretty constant the whole way through which is great.

Did a 10 min easy run tonight (to start the barry p running plan to build up my run foundation again) and around min 9 my knee started to twinge . Started icing it right away when I got home. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Getting back in the groove.  I took Sunday and Monday off after a wild weekend of company.  I spent the morning on the bike for an hour.  I really need to make swimming a priority for the next month.  I have too many kinks in my stroke that need to be smoother.  If only, I could automate it like that Swim Smooth computer guy.  He makes it look so easy!